No Matter What
by 0901
Summary: One night that was supposed to be forgotten, soon changes their lives. As they pick up the pieces of what use to be a magical relationship, they uncover that no matter what life throws at you, you can always have that one person to share the journey with.
1. Memorial Day

May 28, 2012. Memorial Day.

The unofficial beginning of summer. Beaches open up and the untouched sand that was left last August soon start to get trampled by little boys and girls with their parents or teenagers with their friends coming in, to enjoy a day at the beach. Ashley Tisdale was in no way going to spend such a beautiful day inside in her house. She got out of bed, sent a text message to her friends for an invite to a Memorial Day barbecue in Malibu in her beach house. She walked to her bathroom and turned on the shower to get ready for the day. After half an hour, she walked out of the bathroom and looked at her phone to find her iPhone screen filled with Yes's. She tapped in a number on her phone and hoped her best friend picks up and helps to get ready before everyone gets at the house. The phone rang twice before a groggy voice came on line.

"Hello?" the voice asked still filled with sleep.

"Hey Nessa!" Ashley greeted with the usual peppiness of her voice. Vanessa Hudgens turned on her side in her queen size bed to look at the alarm. _9:01_. She sighed. _How could Ashley be awake this early?_ She had just gotten back from filming _Spring Breakers_ in Florida and she's just catching up on the sleep she lost due to many late nights filming.

"Hey Ash, um…I'm just really tired so I kinda—"Vanessa started explaining, however she was cut off by her best friend's voice.

"Oh my god! I'm sorry!" Ashley apologized loudly. Vanessa cringed. Her ears could not handle such volume this early. "You see, I was just wondering if you could help me for the party in Malibu today…and I'm guessing you haven't checked your phone yet…"

"Party?" Vanessa's ears perked up. Now, as tired as she was, she never turns down a party. Not that she was a huge party girl, heck she dances on top of tables sober! "What party?"

"A Memorial Day barbecue over at the Malibu house" Ashley explained. "And I really need to set up before everyone gets there; it's kinda last minute so…"

"Oh…right…" Vanessa trailed on. She debated in her head: to sleep or not to sleep…

"You could bring Austin with you!" Ashley suggested trying to bribe her.

"Oh, he's actually visiting his family right now. So you're just stuck with me." Vanessa decided. She can catch up on sleep later!

"YES!" Ashley cheered loudly.

"ASH! Please….cheer quietly. I'm still not fully awake yet…" Vanessa whined. They said their goodbyes and hung up. Vanessa got out of bed and got into the shower. She closed her eyes as the warm drops of water landed on her body. After her shower, she went inside her closet and picked out her outfit of the day. She got dressed, walked downstairs and picked up a granola bar. She got in her Audi and drove away to the Pacific Coast Highway. Along the route, she slowed down and found Ashley's beach house. She entered the house and found it empty. _Typical…Ashley wakes me up from my sleep and she's not here yet._ Vanessa sighed and dropped her keys in the nearby coffee table. She took in her view. She loved this house. Last time she was here, was Memorial Day of 2010. She walked towards the balcony overlooking the beach. Like most of the beach houses around the area, the house was big and luxurious. With walls of glass overlooking the white pure sand and cerulean blue Pacific Ocean. She's only ever seen that beautiful blue once. Her thoughts were interrupted by her ringtone.

"Hello?" she asked.

"Hey!" The voice on the other side greeted. She smiled. It was her boyfriend of one year's voice. Austin was sweet and very nice. They had met each other in the premiere of Ashley's movie _Sharpay's Fabulous Adventure_ and hit it off. She wasn't planning on getting into a relationship so quickly after ending a five year relationship, but she couldn't help it. He was charming and adorable and he made her feel like a princess.

"Hey sweetie" she greeted.

"What are you doing today?" Austin asked.

"I'm hanging out with Ashley and couple of friends in Malibu" she said.

"Cool, cool…who are you hanging out with?"

"Well…Ashley…and…" Vanessa trailed on. She completely forgot to ask Ashley who she invited! She was going to have to call her later "…I…I actually don't know…it's a Memorial Day barbecue thing so it's probably just our group of friends." She said.

"Oh…well behave yourself" he said jokingly. She giggled. She knew there was a sense of insecurity in his voice deep down.

"Don't worry I will" she assured him.

"Well, I'll be back tomorrow and I'll come by your house" he said.

"Sounds good!"

"I gotta go, Mom and Dad's taking us out for breakfast" He said. "I'll see you tomorrow!"

"Bye sweetie!" They hung up. Vanessa then called Ashley to verify who would be coming to the shindig.

"Hey, Ness. I'm running late I know, but I just needed to stop by the market to pick up food and I'm on my way right now!" Ashley quickly said explaining.

"No worries, don't get into an accident!" Vanessa said jokingly. "I was just wondering who's coming over here?"

Ashley's eyes widened. Shit. She was hoping Vanessa would just let it slide by. She had planned a little surprise for her but she didn't know if Vanessa was going to like it.

"Well…you know…Shell…Kim…Sam…you know" she explained weakly hoping she'd take the excuse.

"Oh….that's it? All girls...I thought this was going to be-" her sentence was interrupted by the front door opening and she turned her head away from the view of the ocean and into the inside of the house. A man dressed in a blue shirt and plaid shorts with sunglasses covering his eyes walked into the house. Vanessa's brown eyes widened and her mouth was opened in surprise. She knew that figure anywhere. _Shit._

"Hello!" the low baritone voice yelled out. He dropped his keys in the nearby coffee table and noticed another pair of keys. "ASH? You there" he yelled out.

Vanessa was still standing in front of the balcony paralyzed. "Ash, I gotta go." She muttered trying not to be heard.

"Nessa! I'm sorry… I should've told you!" Ashley apologized. Vanessa closed her eyes and sighed.

"It's ok…I just need to go out there." She said.

"Alright, I'll try and get there as soon as possible! Promise!" Ashley said. They hung up. Vanessa took a step forward into the house.

"Ash?" the voice said. He took off his sunglasses and turned his head to the shoes walking closer toward him.

It wasn't Ashley.

It was the face of his ex-girlfriend.

Vanessa walked toward him shyly. She gave him a soft smile and he returned and they looked at each other. Brown and blue. Together again. They haven't seen each other since the night of Ashley's premiere. They've sent each other occasional text messages for the past year often congratulatory greetings with each other's upcoming projects. And he even had the balls to send her a bouquet of her favorite flowers during the night of her premiere for Journey 2. However, they haven't been alone in a room since one January afternoon of 2011. He visited her house to return some of the stuff she had left at his house as part of "the break up process". And also part of that process was good old fashion break up sex.

"Hey Zac" she greeted. She played with her fingers, not really knowing what to do.

"Hey" he greeted softly. He took the initiative and walked towards her and pulled her small body for a hug. His chest was warm and Vanessa smiled and relaxed in his arms. They stayed in this position for a while until Zac pulled away and took a good look at her. Her hair was much shorter than he was used to and was styled in a kind of curly afro, but strangely enough he liked it. It fitted her crazy personality and he smiled at the thought. Vanessa's eyebrows went up in question.

"What are you smiling about?" she asked as she jokingly nudged his arm.

"Your hair" he simply said and brought his hand to touch it. He saw Vanessa made a face as she brought his hand to slap his away from her head. He chuckled. They smiled at each other. No words were needed for them to know what each other was thinking. There was surprisingly a comforting silence that covered the two for a few minutes until the front door opened. Zac and Vanessa spotted two tanned skinny legs walking towards them with bags of food covering the person's top body.

"Guys…little help here please?" a muffled voice came out. Zac and Vanessa looked at each other, shook their hands and smiled. They grabbed the bags and their best friend's face soon became visible.

"Finally" Vanessa said. The three walked to the kitchen and set the bags of food on the counter.

"So…" Ashley spoke up. She looked at her two best friends. "How long were you guys here for?" she asked. She bit her lip and hoped it wasn't too long. She had a plan and leaving these two alone for a long time was not part of it. Not yet at least. Zac and Vanessa looked at each other.

"Few minutes" they said in unison and then looked at each other again and laughed quietly. Ashley smiled. Now _this_ was part of her plan.

"Oh-kaay. So let's get the food out, Selena just texted me and said she's on her way with Justin" Ashley said. They took out several bags of chips, packs of Corona and sodas, and beef patties. "Hey Zac, can you start the grill?" she asked. Zac nodded and went outside where the grill was. Vanessa and Ashley followed him carrying the beef patties and buns that needed to be cooked

An hour or so passed and their friends started coming in. There was a lot of hugging, kissing on the cheeks and laughter. Soon enough, the sun went down and everyone stood up from their place on the beach and went inside the house.

"Ness, how's the boy toy?" their friend Shelley asked. Vanessa slightly squirmed from her seat next to Zac. Zac rolled his eyes and took a big gulp from his beer.

"He's fine." She said simply. Everyone else let her response slide by, however a blonde girl heard her from the kitchen where she was talking to one of their friends. Her eyebrows raised and a she started smirking.

Ashley loves Vanessa and she was a good friend of Austin's. But she knew they wouldn't last. She was and always will be the #1 Zanessa fan.

Midnight soon came and the Malibu house was almost abandoned with the exception of three giggling best friends. Zac and Vanessa were sitting in their place at the loveseat. Zac had his arm around her and Ashley was sitting at the recliner opposite them. And quite honestly, they were all a little tipsy.

"OH!" Ashley yelped. Zac and Vanessa cringed. Ashley's voice was always a little out of their comfort zone. "And remember the time when Corbin missed his cue! You guys were kissing forever!" she laughed drunkenly and putting a little emphasis in the word forever.

Zac and Vanessa laughed and looked at each other smiling. Ashley got up, sure she's tipsy but she was slightly sober enough to know not to interrupt this moment…and she really needed to pee.

Zac raised his hand to stroke Vanessa's cheek and smiled softly. Vanessa touched his hand. She looked at his eyes and then his lips. She leaned in. Their lips touched and they were entangled in a passionate kiss. Zac's tongue brushed against her lips for permission to enter. She opened her mouth and their tongues were softly battling each other. Her left hand moved to his earlobe and pulled on it gently. He gave a quiet moan. She smiled against his lips. She pulled away and started kissing up and down his jaw. Zac was panting silently. Vanessa kissed him once again and they continued to be engrossed on a passionate make out session. Vanessa's hands soon went to down to Zac's shorts. Zac realized what she was trying to do and took her hands.

"Let's take this upstairs" he said murmured against her shaking lips. Vanessa smiled shyly and nodded. She wrapped her toned legs around him and together they went climbed up the stairs forgetting about the outside world and never taking their lips off one another.

* * *

><p><strong>AUTHOR'S NOTE<strong>: Hi all! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and stick with it through the end. I've been having these scenarios in my head for quite sometime now and since it's been a hard month for me dealing with the Z/V breakup, writing has been a great distraction!

Now, I've published some stories before, but I always stopped updating it so this is just a trial run. If I have enough reviews to continue this story I will and I hope I do because I have great ideas for this one! :)


	2. The Aftermath

**Author's Note: **So I didn't go to school on Thursday and I only had two classes yesterday and basically no homework today. So I couldn't help but update this even though I've only gotten 1 review from it... I hope you enjoy this one!

* * *

><p>Midnight came and gone and soon enough it was twilight. Stars glimmered across the Californian sky and the roads were empty. The water crashed against the shores of Malibu and two pairs of legs were tangled in the aftermath of their passionate acts. Vanessa's head rested in Zac's bare chest. <em>Thump-thump thump-thump<em>. His heartbeat kept her calm on the events she knew was impending. They lay their quietly until finally Zac spoke up.

"Ness…" his soft baritone voice said. Vanessa raised her head at him. "You..uhh…have…um…boyfriend" he said in broken words. It was too hard to say out loud, especially after what they had just done. Vanessa closed her eyes in pain. She knew what she did was wrong. _How could she do this to Austin?_ She swore in her life she would never be that kind of girlfriend. She then pulled her body away from his and covered her naked body with the white sheets that have been covering them and sat up on her side of the bed. She sighed, she couldn't bear to look at his eyes because then she would feel the need to lay with him in bed forever. Zac's eyes filled with pain and disappointment looked at her bare back. She finally turned around and brought her eyes to him. Zac noticed the tears in her face. He got up, walked over to her and hugged her. Vanessa buried her sobbing face in his shoulders. She felt his hands softly grabbing the back of her head in comfort. They stayed in this position for a while until Vanessa stopped her crying. She lifted her head up to look at him and stroked his cheek.

"Zac, I can't do this right now" she said sadly. He took her stroking hand and held it against his face. "I'm so sorry" she said trying to keep her tears in. He nodded understandingly but nevertheless upset.

"I know" he whispered quietly. He took her hand that he was holding and gave it a small chaste kiss. They both got up and picked up their clothes that were thrown prior to their passionate love making. Afterwards Zac got fully dressed he sat down on the bed and just looked at Vanessa who was trying to find sweater. She could feel his eyes burning through her head as she picked up her sweater that was behind the TV. She put her sweater on, bit her lip and looked at him. She didn't know what else to say and there were no words to be said, they both knew what they did was wrong.

"I should get home" Vanessa said quietly looking at the ground. He nodded somberly. "I'll talk to you later" Vanessa said hopefully. But, Zac did not respond and stayed quiet. She walked quietly out of the room, trying very hard to keep the tears in. She looked back quickly at him to find him lying in the bed with his hands covering his face in frustration. She ran downstairs and got into her car.

Ashley got woken up by the bright light that shined through the glass windows and into the living room. She winced and quickly covered her eyes. She got up from the sofa where she passed out earlier. She walked to the kitchen to find Zac laying his head in the counter. She raised her eyebrows in question.

"Zac?" she asked confused. "Where's Ness?"

Zac picked up his head from the counter and looked at her. Her eyes widened when she saw how bloodshot his eyes were. She sat down next to him.

"What happened?" she asked worriedly. Zac stayed quiet for a few moments and turned his head to her.

"Something that shouldn't have" he whispered quietly.

* * *

><p>Vanessa lay quietly in her bed looking at the ceiling of her bedroom. She got home when it was still dark and she tried closing her eyes but she could not shake the thoughts of Zac and their love making they did earlier. The sound of the front door opening interrupted her thoughts.<p>

"Ness!" a voice called out. She closed her eyes in pain. She had to do this. She got up from her bed and walked downstairs to be met by a pair of lips. She tensed up but tried not to make it noticeable. Austin pulled away and gave her a hug.

"I've missed you" he said putting his chin on top of her head. She rested her left cheek against his shirt.

"Me too" she responded quietly. Austin noticed something wrong and pulled away from their hug to look at her. She was looking at the tiles of the floor.

"Are you okay?" he asked worriedly. She nodded. He didn't believe her and took her hands in his, so he tried to pry more. "What's wrong?" as they walked to the living room and sat on the couch.

Vanessa looked at him and sighed. "We need to talk." At those words, Austin's hands dropped hers. They were quiet for a few seconds and he took a deep breath waiting on what was going to come out of her mouth next.

"What happened?" he asked trying not to expect the worst.

"Yesterday, made me realize that I went into this relationship way too quickly" she explained trying very hard to keep eye contact. His eyebrows furrowed. "I was so infatuated with you that I didn't give my heart time to heal… and I think that I need healing time before I get into another serious relationship" she bit her trembling lip.

"What made you realize this?" he asked in such a calm voice with no hint of anger or jealousy that surprised Vanessa.

"Zac." She said quietly. She couldn't lie to him, he doesn't deserve to be lied to. His eyes dropped down. "Zac did." He looked down at the floor. "I'm sorry" she apologized, not knowing what else to say. He looked at her.

"I always knew he was going to be a tough act to follow" he said quietly. He took her hands in his again. "Do you still love him?" he asked. Vanessa opened her mouth to answer but no words came out. Austin nodded understandingly. Vanessa felt the tears come out of her eyes and she quickly tried wiping them away. "Hey… it's okay." He said quietly. "We don't choose who we fall in love with."

She sighed. "I'm sorry" she breathed. "It's not fair to continue this when you know how I feel". Austin nodded and stood up from the couch. He looked down at Vanessa. He gave her a soft kiss on the forehead.

"Bye Vanessa" he said quietly. Vanessa stood up from her place and gave him a hug.

"You're going to find a girl that will never do this to you. And she's going to make you a really, really happy guy" she said. They pulled away from their hug and Austin walked out of the house. Vanessa sat back down in her couch in defeat. She entered a number on her phone.

"Hello?" the voice asked.

"Ash?" she asked quietly almost childlike after getting hurt from the playground.

"Nessa? Are you okay?" Ashley asked worriedly.

"Yeah" she took a deep breath. "Can you come by the house?" she said as tears start to run down her face.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll be right there"

A few minutes later, Vanessa was crying in her best friend's lap. "I didn't want to hurt him but I couldn't lie to him" she sobbed. "And I didn't realize that I wasn't over Zac and it hurts".

"Ness, I'm so sorry" Ashley said sincerely as she played with Vanessa's hair. "I shouldn't have invited Zac"

"NO." Vanessa said firmly. "No, you shouldn't have to do that. We promised we would stay friends but I barely talked to him for the past year!" she cried she picked up her body from her best friend's lap and sat straight up. "This is my fault! I tried to avoid him so badly to escape my feelings for him and what has it done, Ashley!" she screamed. "IT'S MADE EVERYTHING WORST!"

Ashley did not know what to say. She's never seen Vanessa this frustrated, angry and heartbroken. Not even when she called her in tears after her and Zac decided to take a break. All she knew how to do was let her talk and for her just to listen. She put her arms around Vanessa and gave her a big hug rubbing hands on her back for comfort. That's all she could do.

* * *

><p>A month has passed since the events of Memorial Day and Zac and Vanessa hasn't seen each other since. For weeks, Vanessa would stare at Zac's name on her phone and debated on whether to call him but she would always chicken out. One June morning, she woke up with a nauseating feeling and quickly got out of bed, ran to the bathroom and threw up. This happened repeatedly for four more days. Vanessa then decided to visit Ashley one morning. Maybe locking herself up in her house wasn't such a great idea to deal with the pain. She walked into Ashley's house.<p>

"Ash? You there" she yelled out. She suddenly smelt something that made her insides almost go up. She cringed and pinched her nose.

"Ness?" Ashley walked towards her. She noticed the uncomfortable state of her friend and got worried. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"What is that smell?" she asked disgustingly. Ashley raised her eyebrows.

"I'm cooking eggs; I know you like them scrambled..." she explained. "Are you sick?" bringing the back of her hand against Vanessa's forehead to feel any signs of fever.

"I've just been feeling nauseous for a couple of days…sorry" Vanessa said hesitantly opening her pinched nose.

"Do you have your period?" Ashley asked as they walked to the kitchen. "I have Midol if you want some" she suggested opening up her medicine drawer on top of her stove to find the small bottle of pills. She noticed Vanessa's silence. She took the bottle out and put it in front of her friend. "Ness?" she asked trying to get her attention. Vanessa suddenly got up and took her purse with her.

"Sorry, Ash" she apologized quickly trying to get out of the house. "I have to go somewhere, I'll call you later!" she said walking out of the house leaving Ashley very, very confused.

As she was driving Vanessa's thoughts raced through her head. _I can't be. But, it's possible. _She parked her car in front of a Walgreens and rolled her eyes when she noticed two photographers snapping their cameras away. _They would catch a picture of me doing this_. She shook her head and got out of the car. She kept her head low and ignored the questions being thrown her way.

"Heard you & Austin broke up Vanessa!"

"Are you and Zac getting back together now?"

She tensed up as soon as she heard Zac's name and ran inside the building. She quickly tried to find what she needed and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw a self serve checkout station. She doesn't need anyone to know what she bought. Not yet anyway. She walked out of the building and walked quickly to her car again ignoring the questions.

Zac was driving down the 901 back to LA after going home to Arroyo Grande to see his family for the week. He heard his phone ring in the cup holder it was being held in. He picked up the phone and heard a familiar voice speak.

"Zac?" the voice asked softly.

Zac's blue eyes widened as he heard the voice and tried hard to focus on the road.

"Ness?" he asked.

"Can you come over?" Vanessa's soft voice asked. Zac was confused. They spent weeks avoiding each other and suddenly she wanted to talk now. Something was definitely wrong.

"What's wrong?" he asked fearfully. He heard Vanessa sniffle. She's been crying. "Vanessa, what happened?"

On the other end of the line, Vanessa winced. He never calls her Vanessa unless he's angry or nervous. "Can you just please come over?" she asked helplessly. "Please?"

"I'll be there soon"

15 minutes later, Zac parked inside the two car garage. He didn't need cameras snapping pictures of his car in front of his ex-girlfriend's house.

"Vanessa?" he yelled out the big Mediterranean-style mansion.

"Bedroom" a quiet voice responded. He walked up the stairs to the third floor and entered her bedroom. It was empty.

"Ness?" he asked confused.

"Bathroom." She replied. He walked to the bathroom and found her sitting on the floor looking down, her back against the bathtub. He kneeled in front of her and raised her head up. Her face was red and puffy and it was evident she had been crying.

"What's wrong?" he asked worriedly as he brought her in for a hug. "In the sink" he heard her mumble against his neck. He pulled away and got up to walk towards the sink. His eyes grew in size as he stared at three different pregnancy tests. Positive: they all read. He turned his head to Vanessa who was looking down at the white rug she was sitting on. He looked around the room trying to look for the right words to say. He ran his head through his hair in frustration. Then he saw Vanessa's helpless body sitting on the floor trying hard not to cry again. He sat down on the floor next to Vanessa. They stayed in this position for a few minutes until Vanessa felt Zac's hand take hers. She looked up at him and saw him nod then rested her head in his shoulder. He kissed her head and leaned his head on hers. No words were needed to be spoken, they just needed each other.


	3. Back to the Beginning

The house was still and quiet. You could hear Shadow's tiny paws pitter patter against the floorboard of the living room all the way to the master bedroom on the third floor, where Zac and Vanessa have been laying together for several hours making small conversation about their baby. Vanessa's head was resting on Zac's lap as Zac was sitting upright against the headboard.

"What do you think it'll be?" Zac asked softly. Though he couldn't see it, Vanessa gave a small smile.

"I don't know." She asked honestly. "I kinda hope it's a boy" Zac raised his eyebrows.

"Hmm…I would've thought you wanted a little girl" he said.

"Do you want a little girl?" Vanessa asked curiously. She felt Zac shrug.

"Just as long as their healthy and breathing, I'm fine with whatever" he said with a slight laugh. Vanessa smiled and sat right up to face Zac. They looked at each other. Vanessa suddenly turned her head in the opposite direction and Zac got worried. "What's wrong?" he asked as he rubbed her arm. She faced him and sighed.

"Zac, how are we going to do this?" she asked worriedly. Zac looked at her in confusion. "I mean, we don't have any clue on how to raise a baby!" she said loudly. Zac tried to placate her and took her in his arms. She placed her head in between his neck and collarbone. Her favorite part of his body. "Aren't you scared?" she asked more calmly and gently. Zac let out a small laugh.

"Ness, I'm freaking terrified" he admitted. Vanessa wrapped her arms around him. "But we can't back out now, having a baby's not exactly a trial run" Vanessa giggled. "Alas! She laughs" he said jokingly. She looked up at him and poked her tongue out. He reciprocated. They smiled at each other.

"I missed you" she said. Zac leaned his head in confusion. "I'm sorry I never told you that" she apologized sadly. Zac shook his head and kissed her on the forehead.

"You don't have to be" he said reassuring her. They stared at each other for a while until Zac got an idea. "Do you want to get out of here?" Vanessa looked at him in confusion.

"What do you mean?" she asked unsure.

"Let's get out of LA!" he suggested. Vanessa looked at him like he was insane, which he was.

"What do you mean _get out_ _of_ LA?" she asked him indecorously.

"I mean get out of LA for a few days" he explained emphasizing the latter part of the sentence. She still looked him with the same expression on her face.

"Where the hell are we supposed to go?" she asked. He shrugged and gave her a cute face. She couldn't help but laugh.

"You're crazy" she said. He gave her a smile that made her smile. She missed that smile. That smile was especially reserved for her purposes only.

"Crazy's my middle name" he joked. She laughed and got up from bed and went inside her closet. Zac's eyebrows rose at her actions.

"Whatcha doin'?" he asked curiously. She stuck her head out of the doorway.

"Well if we're going to go away, I need clothes don't I?" she said and went back inside. He laughed and lay back down on the bed placing his hands behind his head. After Vanessa packed a bag for the trip, she walked back to the bedroom to see Zac asleep. She let out a small laugh and put the bag she packed aside. She crawled into bed quietly trying not to wake him up and closed her eyes. Soon enough, both of them were asleep.

Zac opened his eyes and rubbed them. He looked outside the window and saw that it was already dark outside. He turned to his side and saw Vanessa in an almost fetal position asleep. He smiled at the view and put the covers over them. Vanessa woke up from the movement being made.

"Ness, go back to sleep" Zac ordered gently. Vanessa ignored him and sat straight up and rubbed her eyes.

"I thought we were going to go somewhere" she said softly her voice still filled with sleep. Zac looked at the clock and looked back at her.

"It's 3 in the morning, let's just go tomorrow" he said softly trying to get her to lie back down. She shook her head and got up to stretch.

"Now's the perfect time to go away" she said walking to her bag that she packed earlier. Zac looked at her in question. "The paps have to sleep sometime and I'm pretty sure clubs are closing right now, so they have no one to take a picture off" she said almost in an obvious tone. Zac thought about it for a moment and then nodded his head in agreement. He got up and walked to the window and saw no photographers in sight.

"Looks good" he said to Vanessa.

"Good. Let's go" she said grabbing her bag and her purse. They both walked down the stairs and through the garage and got into Zac's car. They drove by Zac's house and as they went inside, Vanessa smiled at the familiarity of the place.

"I just gotta pack some stuff too" Zac said as he walked up the stairs to his room. Vanessa nodded at him as she looked around the place. Her eyes bright up as she saw his longboard leaning on the end of the couch.

Zac went downstairs carrying his bag and he looked at Vanessa who was rolling around the living room sitting on his board. He smiled. Vanessa looked at him and got up from the longboard.

"Ready?" she asked him. He nodded and grabbed the keys. They walked outside to his front yard and Vanessa surprisingly saw his old Alero parked in the front yard. He opened the passenger door for her and she smiled at the gesture. He got into the driver's side and they drove away.

"So where we going?" Vanessa said. Zac shrugged. Vanessa looked at him in shock. "I thought you were kidding about not deciding where to go!" she exclaimed.

"What about this" he said picking up a quarter from the cup holder. "Flip the coin, north is head, south is tails" he suggested as he gave her the quarter to flip. Vanessa took the coin from him and looked at it curiously. He glanced at her and snickered. "Why are you looking at the coin like that?" he asked.

"To make sure you didn't rig it" she answered simply. Zac gave out a laugh. "Fine" as she lingered on the word, "I'll flip it". She flipped the coin and it landed on her lap.

"What's the verdict?" Zac asked.

"North it is." Vanessa responded and placed the quarter back in the cup holder. She looked around the car and smiled. "I thought Dylan had this car now" she said running her fingers on top of the dashboard.

"Mom and Dad gave him a new car for his birthday, so he drove this old thing down when he came to visit for his spring break" he explained. Vanessa went quiet. Zac took note of this and spoke up. "What's up?" Vanessa looked at him.

"Your Mom and Dad" she started.

"Yeah?" he asked confused.

"They must hate me…" she said sadly. Zac sharply turned his head to her but quickly looked back at the highway since he was driving.

"Why would you think that?" he asked. She looked down at her lap and played with the rings on her fingers.

"I don't know" she mumbled. "I just figured with how things ended….I don't know" she shrugged. There was silence for a few seconds.

"Mom misses you" he said. Vanessa looked at him. "So does Dylan and Dad"

"They do?" she asked surprised.

"Yeah" he said nodding his head. "They don't like to talk about you in front of me but I know" he said. Vanessa nodded her head in understanding. Her family tries to do the same thing. But, even they couldn't hide the fact that they missed having Zac in their life. Gina loved him like a son, Stella finally had an older brother, and even Greg after almost 5 years started to get used at the fact that his 'baby girl', his firstborn, was in love with Zac. And he wouldn't have had it any other way. Vanessa suddenly remembered the situation they were in. She brought a hand to her stomach. _There's a baby in there_.

"Zac" she said nervously.

"Yeah? Are you okay? Do you need to go the bathroom?" Zac rushed the questions. "I could pull over if you want"

"No, no, no. It's fine" she said putting a comfort hand on his arm.

"Then what is it?" he asked.

"Our parents" she said. Zac glanced at her with a confused face. "How do you think they'll take it?" she asked him biting her bottom lip. Zac stayed silent for a moment and then took a deep breath. He completely forgot about his parents or hers. He was still trying to soak in the fact that in eight months, he'll be a dad and he felt like all of yesterday was a blur. Everything was moving so fast ever since Vanessa showed him the pregnancy tests that all other thoughts in his mind just flew away. He looked at her again and intertwined his hand on hers and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"Well they won't be happy about it" he said. Vanessa looked at him in shock. He wasn't supposed to say things like that; he was supposed to comfort her! "But" he said noticing her shocked face. "I think if we figure things out before telling them, they'll get over it" he said hopefully. Vanessa sighed deeply and squeezed back his hand.

"So what _are_ we going to do?" she asked raising her eyebrows at him. He gave her a look and they look at each other for a moment. Then they both gave out a small laugh and looked away from each other. Vanessa shook her head. "This kid doesn't stand a chance"

"Nope" he agreed. "But we'll mess up together" he said. She gave him a small smile. They drove and drove when suddenly Vanessa noticed a "Welcome to Nevada" sign. She looked at Zac in shock.

"Zac? Where the hell are we going?" she asked. He gave her a smile but stayed quiet. "Are we going to Vegas?" she asked hoping for hints. He laughed.

"You think I'm going to bring a pregnant woman to Vegas?" he asked. She shrugged. After a while, Zac was still driving in the desert and he heard a quiet snoring sound. He turned his head to the passenger seat and found Vanessa sound asleep but still hanging on this hand. He smiled at the sight.

A few hours later, Vanessa got woken up from the rising sun. She opened her eyes to see Zac still driving although looking very tired. Their hands still intertwined, she shook it to get Zac's attention. "Zac" she said softly. He made a slight grunting sound to acknowledge her presence. "We should pull over for a while" she recommended. "You have to sleep" He shook his head in disagreement. "Zac" she said firmly as she gave him a stern look. "Pull. Over" she ordered. Zac took a deep breath and changed lanes to merge into the nearest pit stop. He parked and turned off the engine.

"Do you want to eat?" he said pointing to the small McDonalds. She shook her head.

"You go to sleep, I'm going to get the food" she said opening the car door and grabbing her purse.

"Ness" he started to object. Vanessa shushed him and got out of the car.

"Go to sleep" she said pointing a finger at him. Before closing the car door and walking over to the McDonalds. Zac huffed.

"I would hate to be our kid" he mumbled to himself closing his eyes.

Vanessa entered the McDonalds and sighed in relief when she saw that there were no other people besides the sleeping counter boy. She walked over to him and cleared her throat softly to get his attention. He sat straight up.

"Welcome to McDonalds, can I take your order?" the mumbled in his half asleep state. Usually, Vanessa would've rolled her eyes at servers like him, but she was slightly thankful that he hasn't recognized her.

"Yeah, can I have 1 medium premium roast coffee, 1 bottled water and 2 orders of the Bacon, Egg & Cheese McGriddle" she said.

"Is that all?" the boy mumbled. She nodded her head. The boy tapped her order into the cash register. "That'll be $17.17". Vanessa handed him a 20 dollar bill and waited for the change. She walked over to one of the empty tables to wait for her food. Afterwards, she walked outside to the car and got inside. Zac was snoring loudly in the reclined driver's seat. She laughed quietly and took a bite out of her McGriddle. After she finished her food, Vanessa propped her feet up against the dashboard and rubbed her stomach. _Maybe I should've gotten 1 more order of that McGriddle…I am eating for two now._

An hour later, Zac woke up from Vanessa's soft humming. Her eyes were wide open looking at the view of the empty desert. He wiped away the small drool that gathered on the side of his mouth. Vanessa noticed he was awake. "Hey, you're awake. I got you coffee and a McGriddle"

He nodded as he took the McGriddle and unwrapped the paper covering it. "I was going to wake you up earlier since the coffee would get cold but you looked really tired" she said.

"Ish ohay" he said with his mouth full. Vanessa gave him a look and he slightly rolled his eyes before swallowing the bite. "Sorry" He finished the last of his McGriddle and started the car again.

"So" Vanessa drew out. "Care to tell me why we're in Bunkerville, Nevada?" she said pursing her lips and raising her eyebrows at him.

"Bunkerville?" he asked confused. She nodded.

"I saw it on my receipt" she explained. "So?" she pried. He looked at her and smiled. "Stop giving me that smile and answer the damn question"

"What smile?"

"The smile that makes girls who see it want to jump you so badly" she grumbled. He laughed.

"Jealous?"

"No" she said quickly. He raised his eyebrows at her. "No" she said more confidently.

"Mmkay" he said not believing her. She looked at him with a squinting glare.

"Will your girlfriend care that you're having a child with another woman?" she asked jealously perfectly knowing that he did not have a girlfriend but wanted to bring up the girls he's been rumored to be with. He snickered.

"You mean my nonexistent girlfriend?" he said teasingly. "Yup. She'll be jealous." She poked her tongue at him.

"What about Taylor? Or Lily?" she mumbled against her breath referring to the girls he's been rumored to be with. He rolled his eyes.

"We went out on _a_ date" he said. "You of all people should know that a date does not mean you're in a relationship" She huffed. He glanced at her. "What about Austin?" she leaned her in confusion. "Wouldn't he care that his girlfriend's having a kid with her ex-boyfriend?" he mumbled with disdain.

"We broke up" she responded simply. He stayed quiet for a moment.

"When?" he asked softly.

"The day of" she said alluding to the events of Memorial Day. He nodded.

"Does he know why?" he asked curiously. She shook her head.

"He doesn't know the full details but he knows you were in involved" she explained slowly trying to pick out the right words to say.

"Oh"

"Yup" she said popping out the 'p' sound. An awkward silence covered the inside of the small Alero driving in the middle of the desert. Vanessa looked out the window and saw that they were approaching a "Welcome to Arizona" sign. Her mouth gaped and turned her direction at Zac. He kept his eyes on the road ignoring her opened mouth. "Okay! Seriously." She said exclaiming. "Are you going to drive me in the middle of the desert where there are no witnesses, to kill me?" she asked jokingly. He smiled.

"Damn. You caught on" he winked. Something fluttered in her stomach and she turned her head away from him to avoid him from seeing her blushing face.

"But where are we really going?" she asked grabbing his arm and shaking it as though she was going to get the answer out of him by doing so. He laughed.

"I'm driving" he laughed. "Don't distract me". Her eyes squinted at him and started poking at him in various places. "HEY!" he laughed again. "We're going to get into an accident if you keep doing that" he sticking his tongue out at her. She stopped poking him and glared at him.

"But tell me where we're going!" she bellowed. "Do you even know where you're going?" she raised her eyebrows at him. He scoffed.

"I perfectly know where we're going, thank you very much." He said. Vanessa snickered and rolled her eyes.

"Right" she said lingering at the word. "Like you 'knew where you were going' when we drove to Coachella that one year" she teased putting air quotes on the sentence.

"HEY! That wasn't my fault! Ryan gave me fucked up directions" he said referring to their friend, Ryan Rottman. They laughed at the memory.

"_Zac?" Vanessa asked from the passenger seat of his black Audi looking out the dark window. _

"_Yeah, babe?" he asked glancing over at her. She looked at him. _

"_Where the hell are we?" she asked with raised eyebrows. Zac stayed quiet for a moment and s. _

"_Well…." He trailed on. "You know…we're driving…" he said weakly. She rolled her eyes at him and shook her head. _

"_We're lost." She said bluntly as she her pursed her lips. He shook his head. _

"_No. no. no. no. We are most definitely NOT lost" he said defensively still driving along the route. "I know exactly where we are" he said stubbornly. She crossed her arms below her chest. _

"_So where are we?" she asked challenging him. _

"_We're on our way to Coachella goddamit" he grunted with frustration. She sighed and entwined her fingers with his tense hand. She moved her thumb against his skin to comfort him. _

"_Alright" she said putting aside their spat and finally agreeing with him. "We're on our way to Coachella" Zac looked at her and she smiled. _

"We were so lost" she said covering her mouth to try and keep her laughter in. He laughed and nodded his head in agreement.

"Yeah" he said. "Sorry about that" he said apologizing. She turned her head at him.

"It's okay" she said. "That was fun" she said brightly.

"We did have a fun time talking with that old couple in the gas station!" he said as they both let out a loud laugh.

_Zac gave out a loud sigh and ran his fingers through his hair. They've been driving for hours for what was initially only supposed to be a 2 hour drive. Vanessa could feel his frustration. _

"_Zac, maybe we should pull over to that gas station" she suggested softly not wanting to make him mad. He pursed his lips. Usually his manly ego would be against this, but he looked over to his girlfriend who looked tired and a little bit pissed off though she was trying hard to hide it. Deciding he didn't want to make her anymore mad, he pulled the car over and parked in front of the gas station. They both got out of the car and entered the small gas station. The room was empty and the only one present besides them was an elderly man and woman talking in the counter. They walked over to them. _

"_Ahem, excuse me" Zac said getting their attention. _

"_Why hi there!" a tall thin man with graying hair yelled out. "What can we help you with tonight?" he asked. _

"_Well we're on our way to Indio and we got lost on the way" Zac explained. "So we were wondering how to get back to I-10?"_

"_Oh that's easy" the small stout woman with white hair perked up. "You need to just follow down the road here and turn right to Columbus, after that you'll see I-40, then take exit 144 to merge into US-95 then follow that until you see CA-62 and then you'll see 1-10 right there" she said smiling at them. Zac and Vanessa and looked at each with a sigh of relief and smiled at the couple. _

"_Thank you so mu—"Vanessa started to say until she got interrupted by the old man's voice._

"_No, no, no, no" he said shaking his head. He looked over to the woman. "Betty, you gave 'em wrong directions" the old woman, whose name is apparently Betty, looked at him in shock. _

"_I most certainly did not George!" she yelled out. George pointed his finger at her and nodded his head wildly. _

"_Yes you did!" he turned his direction to Zac and Vanessa who was looking at them awkwardly. "You two need to go down Colombus and merge into I-40." _

"_That's what I said" Betty grumbled between her breath. He gave her a shooing motion with his hand to tell her to keep quiet._

"_Then you take exit 78 and turn to National Trails Highway" he explained. Betty scoffed. _

"_Then turn to CA-62 and then you'll soon see 1-10" he said grinning sounding pretty impressed with himself. _

"_Sure, if you want them to get there next week" Betty argued. George rolled his eyes at her. _

"_Oh hush you!" he said. "You're just mad that I know better directions than you" Then they took turns shouting insults at each other for a few more minutes. Zac and Vanessa looked at each other and Vanessa jerked her head towards the door. Zac nodded. _

"_Well thank you for your time" he said as they move backwards to the door. "We'll just find our own way" he said as they quickly ran to the car. _

"Betty and George" Vanessa laughed as she said their name. "What a crazy couple" Zac looked at her and smiled.

"Doesn't make them any less perfect for each other" he murmured. They gave each a small smile and another silence fell on the two. It's been happening a few times now; whenever they get close to the subject of talking about their relationship they go quiet. It was too hard of a subject to talk about now. They drove along in silence and stopped by a gas station once to fill up on their near empty fuel tank. They drove more and more until Vanessa's brown eyes widened when she finally realized where they were heading as they passed by the state line.

Welcome to Utah.


	4. Figuring It Out

**Author's Note**: HELLO READERS! I find that it's getting easier and easier to write this story, and I hope you are all enjoying it! I have big plans for these two in the future. Haha :D If only what I write actually came true...

Enjoy!

* * *

><p>Vanessa looked over at Zac smiling. He gave her a grin.<p>

"Seriously?" she asked giddily grabbing his arm. He nodded. She looked back at the window and opened it. She stuck her head out and smiled the biggest smile. Vanessa felt the Utah wind fly by her smiling face. After a minute of getting familiar again with Utah and its beautiful landmarks, Vanessa pulled her head back inside the car and gave out a happy sigh. She bit her lip and looked over at Zac who was focusing on the road. She hesitated but leaned over to give him a soft kiss on the cheek. Zac's blue eyes perked up and he smiled.

"What was that for?" he asked happily. Vanessa smiled.

"For this" she answered simply. She intertwined her fingers through his and felt like she was 16 years old again. The first time she met Zac. The first time she went to Utah. The first time she ever fell so deep in love. She smiled at the thought.

They kept on driving for a few more hours. It was late in the afternoon when the two reached Salt Lake City. Vanessa, though very tired from the nearly 12 hour trip they just drove, smiled widely. She could feel the memories of the wondrous city fill her head as they drive through the roads. Vanessa looked out the window to see recognizable restaurants and bowling alleys that they use to spent hours in while filming High School Musical. Her eyes however lingered at the sign that lit up: Dotties, an outside miniature golf course. She smiled as she saw two teenagers who looked like they were on a date play on one of the courses. The guy wrapped his arm around her and helped her get a hole in one.

"_Zac, where are we going?" Vanessa complained to the taller boy with shaggy brown hair walking besides her. They were filming a Disney movie in Utah and they hit it off the second they met in auditions. Since they started filming a month ago, they've developed feelings for one another and ever since he had asked her out for the first time yesterday, he has been hinting a surprise he had in mind. But he wouldn't reveal anything about it. He would simply smile. _

"_Ness, we're almost there. I promise" he said taking her hand. They've been walking the sidewalks of Salt Lake City for about 15 minutes. Zac finally lead her to a small entrance. Dotties the brightly lit multicolored neon sign read. Vanessa's eyebrows rose as she looked at Zac. She then saw an outdoor miniature golf course at the back and looked her head at Zac again. _

"_Mini golf?" she asked. He gave her a smile again and it made her smile. _

"_You said you've never been" he shrugged. She grinned as she remembered that she mentioned to have never gone mini golfing during the first few days of filming as they were trying to bond. _

_They walked over to the counter and paid for a game and grabbed two putts and the ball as they walked inside the course. They were right behind an elderly couple. _

"_So sorry kids" the elderly man apologized as they were taking a long time on the course. They smiled at them._

"_No worries" Zac said. Soon it was their turn. Zac was surprised that Vanessa was so good at it, getting a hole in one three times in a row. "You sure you've never played this before?" he asked suspiciously. She smiled and nodded. _

"_Positive" _

_They finally got to their last course and Zac looked over at Vanessa who was looking over the course intently as if she were trying to analyze the perfect strategy to score a hole in one. Zac motioned his hand forward. _

"_Ladies first" he said charmingly. She smiled and blushed. She took her position and hit the ball with her red putt. Zac and Vanessa watched the hit the curb and roll through the artificial grass and go through a tunnel only to end up on the other side of the thick bushes and land on the hole. Vanessa jumped and screamed with glee. Zac looked impressed and felt arms being wrapped around his neck. Vanessa hugged Zac tightly until she realized she has been doing it a little too long. She unwrapped herself from him and smiled shyly at him before looking down. Zac noticed her flushed face and brought her face up to look at him. He stroked her cheek before both of them leaned in for their very first kiss._

"Ness" Zac said shaking Vanessa out of the memory. She looked over at him. He pointed to the building they parked in front of. The Grand America Hotel. She turned her head to the building and gasped in surprise. This was the hotel they stayed at while filming the last High School Musical. She turned her direction back to Zac. "How are we gonna get a room?" she asked curiously. Zac stayed quiet for a moment trying to figure out a plan not to be seen since it will most likely be tweeted the second they're spotted together in Utah, trying to get a room in the hotel. He could see TMZ and E! headlines now: _Zac & Vanessa back together? The two lovebirds were seen in a romantic getaway in Salt Lake City._

As Zac continued to think, Vanessa got impatient and bent down to her purse and pulled something out that made Zac look at her oddly. She put her hair in a bun and put on the blonde wig she got to keep after filming _Spring Breakers_, and then she put on her sunglasses, grabbed her purse and got out of the car. "Watch and learn, Efron" she said flirty and winked at him. Zac's mouth gaped at her and he could almost feel a hard on coming on as he watched her walk away with her hips swaying from side to side. He rested back on the driver seat trying to calm down his little friend.

Vanessa walked into the hotel, trying to blend in with the crowd of people in the lobby. She went towards the hotel counter and a redheaded young lady greeted her.

"Welcome to the Grand American Hotel. How can I help you?" she perked. She doesn't seem to recognize Vanessa just yet.

"Hi, do you have a room for two available for a week?" she asked in an unusually falsetto voice trying hard to remain incognito. The redheaded woman typed a few words on the keyboard and look at the computer screen in front of her. She nodded and looked back at Vanessa smiling.

"We actually do have one, lucky you it's the last available one!" she grinned. "Total for 7 nights would be 1793 dollars" Vanessa nodded as she pulled out a few hundred bills from her wallet not wanting to use her card to remain in disguised. "Would that be cash or credit?" the receptionist asked.

"Cash" Vanessa handed her 10 hundred dollar bills and a 50 dollar bill and three 20 dollar bills. In return, the redheaded woman handed her two room cards.

"Have a wonderful stay here at the Grand American Hotel!" she said. Vanessa gave her a small smile and walked back outside to the parked Alero. She saw Zac with his head leaning back at the headrest with his eyes closed breathing rather shallowly. Her eyes travelled down to the crotch of his pants and widened. She looked around the parking lot and saw no one paying attention to her. She looked back to Zac who was looking back at her with his blue eyes widened. _Had she just caught him masturbating?_ Vanessa walked towards the car and opened the door trying very hard to hide what she had just witnessed.

"We got a room for the week" she explained slowly looking ahead trying not make eye contact as she was still trying to reel in the images of Zac and his dick from her head. He was still looking at her and then looked down when she looked at him. He gulped.

"Did you…uhh" he stammered. "You uhh…saw?"

"Saw what?" Vanessa asked trying to be discreet.

"Ness"

"We should probably get up to our room" she interrupted him. He sighed and nodded. He put his hood up and sunglasses on his face to stay hidden. They got out of the car and pulled their bags out of the trunk. They walked inside the lobby and entered the nearest elevator. It was empty, so Zac took this time to talk to her.

"Ness, you saw" he stated. She rolled her eyes. _He was still stuck in this?_

"So?"

"Why didn't you just say so?"

"It's not that big of a deal" she mumbled. It was his turn to roll his eyes.

"If it wasn't a big deal you wouldn't have lied" he grumbled against his breath.

"Look, I don't know why it was such a big deal! You were relieving yourself, its normal" she said putting her hands up for dramatic effect. "If you haven't noticed Zac, I've seen your 'friend' before and this is why we're in this situation" she said as she pointed to her stomach.

He looked at her and opened his mouth to say something, but was stopped when two more passengers got into the elevator. Vanessa smiled in triumph. Zac leaned in closer to her and whispered in her ear, "We're not done talking about this". She took a deep breath and let out a sigh.

They reached the 14th floor and got out of the elevator. They walked down the empty hotel hallway and found their room at the near end: 1449. Zac put the card into the key slot and they entered the room. As he entered the room they found the bathroom to their left and as they got more into the room, there was a flat screen TV hung up against the wall right in front of the king size bed. Zac and Vanessa looked at each other with knowing faces.

"Uhh…I'll just take the couch then" Zac said walking towards the cream colored sofa rested against the window. It looked comfortable enough, but not for sleeping. Especially not for a whole week. Vanessa shook her head in disagreement.

"No" she said grabbing his arm. They looked at each other. "Just sleep with me". Zac raised his eyebrows at her. "I—I mean next to me!" she stammered as she realized what words came out of her mouth. Zac smiled slightly.

"You sure?" he asked cautiously. She nodded. They smiled and walked towards the bed and put their bags on top of it. Zac sat down at the edge and turned on the TV in front of him while Vanessa walked into the bathroom. Zac turned on to the weather channel and saw that there was a thunderstorm coming on to the area for the next few days. He groaned. Vanessa got out of the bathroom as she heard him.

"What's wrong?" she asked sitting down next to him at the edge of the bed.

"There's a storm coming this week" he said rubbing his hands on his face from frustration. "Stupid, stupid, stupid" he muttered. Vanessa smiled.

"It's fine!" she said. "Learn how to dance in the rain, Efron" she said teasingly and stood up and grabbed her hoodie from her duffel bag. "C'mon let's go out before it gets dark outside" she said jerking her head towards the door as she pulled the hood up to her head. Zac stood up and together they walk out to explore Utah once again.

* * *

><p>They were walking along the sidewalk when Vanessa spotted Mister Softee truck. Her brown eyes lit up and she took hold of Zac's hands and dragged him to the white truck. There was a small line consisting of mostly little kids. A tall bald headed man stuck out his head of the window and greeted them.<p>

"Hello" he said cheerily. "What would you like today?" Vanessa opened her mouth to respond but was cut off by Zac.

"A chocolate dip on a cone for the lady and a root beer float please" Zac said as he pulled out wallet from his back pocket and counted the bills he had. Vanessa looked at him subtlety biting her lip smiling.

"That's 7.50" the ice cream man said handing Vanessa her cone and Zac his root beer. Zac gave him a 5 dollar bill and 3 singles. He smiled at the ice cream man.

"Keep the change man" he said as they started to walk away from the truck. The bald headed man smiled at them but narrowed his eyes in confusion.

"Do I know you guys from somewhere?" he asked curiously looking at a blonde haired Vanessa wearing sunglasses and a hoodie covered Zac also wearing sunglasses. They gave him a cheshire smile and waved at him goodbye.

They continued to walk the streets of Salt Lake City. As Vanessa was eating her ice cream she looked at Zac who was trying to mix his root beer float with his straw.

"You still remember what ice cream I like" she stated giving him a soft smile. He stopped twirling his straw and looked at her and gave her a smirk.

"How could I not?"

She shrugged. Zac looked at her as if he was analyzing her and she looked back at him with a questioning look.

"What?"

"Ness, we do need to talk about the…uhh…baby…" he said softly not wanting people to hear. She sighed and nodded in agreement.

"Yeah" she said softly looking down slowly licking at her cone. "Everything happened so fast today, yesterday I was at Walgreens buying pregnancy tests and now I'm in Utah…" she said letting out a soft laugh on her situation. "I guess I forgot…"

"Hey" he said softly nudging her shoulder, she looked at him. "I forgot too. It's easy to get caught up looking back at memories…especially in this place" he said looking around his surroundings. They smiled.

"Would it be crazy if I said I would want to be move here when the baby's born?" Vanessa asked softly looking at the mountains in the horizon. Zac looked at her and shook his head.

"If you're crazy, then I'm crazy with you" he said smiling. "This place is incredible" Vanessa nodded in agreement.

"No paparazzi, no tabloids, no nothing" she said happily.

"Maybe we could get a house here someday" he started to say. Vanessa looked at him in shock. "It'd be nice for summer vacation…or winter…" he trailed on. Vanessa thought about his idea for a moment until grinning at the suggestion.

"Yeah" she said smiling. "It'd be nice for him" she said putting her left hand on her stomach. "What about in LA though?" bringing him into the reality that they are having a baby together.

Zac sighed. He knew his house wasn't fit for a baby. "Well…my house is out of the question" he said. "Those concrete floors were not made for babies to be crawling on, let alone learning how to walk on" he said shaking his head. Vanessa nodded.

"So my house then…" Vanessa started to say.

"Yeah…"

"Well you could visit every day and stay the night most of the time" she suggested trying to give him suggestions since they wouldn't be living together. "You live 7 minutes away, it won't be that hard and I have 5 extra rooms in the house anyway, 'bout time they're put into use!" she said jokingly. He let out a small laugh but Vanessa could swear he saw a hint of disappointment in his eyes.

"Yeah, well living arrangements is settled then."

"Yup" she said popping out the 'p' sound. They walked a few more minutes in silence until Vanessa brought up a sore topic. "How about filming?" she asked unsurely. Zac winced. The main reason they broke up is because they both got tired of not seeing enough of each other because they were in different places for filming. Zac let out a deep breath and took a gulp out of his root beer float.

"Well…you're definitely not going to be working when you're pregnant" he said sternly. "I forbid you" Vanessa rolled her eyes knowing he was slightly joking.

"I'll be fine" she said making a motion with her hand as if to shush him up. "Pregnant women do it all the time" she said taking a bite out of her half eaten cone.

"Most pregnant women don't work 17 hours straight" he retorted.

"Well I'm going to need to do press stuff for _Gimme Shelter_ soon" she said alluding to her movie about a pregnant teenager who looks for a home after her father kicks her out after discovering she had gotten pregnant.

"I'll make sure Brit doesn't make you travel too much" Zac said talking about her publicist. "Traveling puts stress on the baby" he said as if her were an expert on pregnancy. Vanessa laughed.

"Oh, okay Mr. Expert" she said teasing him. They laughed. "I think I'll take a break from movies for a while" she started to say seriously. Zac looked at her in surprise. "You know just for a few months or a year…to take care of the baby" she said biting her lip. She loved making movies, but she knows the baby needs caring and love and working right away just didn't sleep like a good idea. Zac took her arm to stop her from walking any further.

"Hey" he said. "We're in this together, you don't have to do anything alone" he comforted her. "I'll take care of the baby whenever you want to film" Vanessa sighed.

"That's not fair to you, Zac" she started to say. But he shook his head at her.

"What's not fair is making you put your career on hold because of something we both did" he said sternly. Vanessa tried to hold in her tears, but a few teardrops came out down her face. Zac wiped away the salty water on her face and pulled her into a tight hug. "You're not alone, Ness. I'm not going anywhere."

"I don't want to hold you back" she mumbled against his shoulder. A thought dawned on Zac and he pulled away from their hug and held her face in his hands.

"Is…Is this why you broke up with me?" he asked quietly. Vanessa looked down to her shoes. "Vanessa" he said more firmly. Vanessa looked up at him to see his eyes staring right at her. "Is this why you broke up with me?" he asked once again more firmly.

"Zac" she said crying. Zac knew what she was going to say next and rolled his head with disappointment. Vanessa grabbed his hands and Zac looked back at her. "You were going somewhere" referring to his progressing career in Hollywood.

"And you weren't?" his voice yelled out with a mix of anger and sadness.

"I was just beginning" she cried out. "You had all these great opportunities laid out in front of you already; I didn't want to hold you back because of me!"

"I wanted to share it all with you!" he exclaimed. By now they caught a few people's attention also walking by. Vanessa noticed this and didn't want to bring any more attention to themselves, she took his hand and walked him over to a nearby bench. They sat down in silence for a few moments until Zac spoke up again.

"Vanessa "he started to say as he looked down the dirt on the ground, his voice starting to break. They were both crying, sitting side by side to each other trying hard to keep it together. "I—I thought that whatever we go through, that we would be there for each other" Vanessa looked at him with sadness. "Forever" Vanessa sobbed quietly trying to disguise her pain.

"Zac" she cracked. "We were so young… I-" Zac snapped his head at her.

"That never stopped us" he said loudly as tears drip down his face. "5 years, gone just like that. For months, I kept on thinking that you didn't love me anymore" Vanessa shook her head defiantly.

"I will always love you" Vanessa said firmly wiping the tears off her cheeks. "You should never doubt that"

"What the hell was I suppose to think when I went down to Hawaii for Thanksgiving thinking I was going to spend the holiday with my girlfriend and she told me we needed a break from each other?" he exclaimed in frustration and despair.

"That's exactly it!" it was not Vanessa's turn to raise her voice. "Zac, you skipped Thanksgiving with your family!" Zac's eyes are filled with confusion as Vanessa started to explain. "You skipped cutting the turkey with your dad, and eating with your grandparents who haven't seen you in months, you even missed Dylan coming back home since he went to college to be with me." She spat out the latter part in a disgusted way.

"Ness—"Zac began to say but he was interrupted by Vanessa's tirade.

"How could I ask you to give up being with your family and spend it with me in a stupid hotel room, where we didn't even have a Thanksgiving Dinner?" she asked.

"You shouldn't have to" he said quietly in a raspy sounding voice. "You should've known that I would always choose you" he said looking straight at her. Hearing those words, Vanessa's tears began falling down her face uncontrollably. Everything was coming out. All the emotions that have been held for over a year and a half came running down in this moment. "Then a few months after, I saw you making out with another guy and it hurt" Zac gulped. "A lot" he said clenching his right hand into a fist. Vanessa could see the nerves of his wrist come out and took her own hand and opened up his closed fist. Zac breathed heavily trying to control his temper and held Vanessa's hand tightly as if he was never going to let go.

"I'm sorry" she apologized not knowing what else to say. It was all her fault. Zac shook his head.

"We agreed to see each other people" he said. "You just got the head start" letting out a small laugh.

"I should've thought about you" she said in a child-like voice. He let out a small snicker.

"I don't think that's how it works when people break up, Ness" he smiled softly. She smiled back.

"We're not normal people" she said teasingly. Zac laughed a bit. They would always make fun of the gossip sites and magazines that would refer to them as "stars" or "celebrities" and act surprise when they spot them doing something domestic like shopping at Target or Best Buy. Vanessa looked at Zac who was looking down at his jeans. She let out a deep breath. "I stopped listening to Taylor Swift music because I thought you two were together" she confessed hoping to make him laugh. Zac looked at her with a big smile on his face laughing. They laughed together. Zac pulled her into a comforting embrace.

"You ok?" he asked against her hair. He felt her nod. They pulled apart and looked at each other still holding each other's hands.

"What are we going to do now?" she asked. He thought about it for a moment and then shrugged.

"We can only go from here"

* * *

><p>PLEASE PLEASE TELL YOUR FRIENDS AND FEEL FREE TO WRITE AND QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS ON THE REVIEW PAGE! :D<p> 


	5. One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Zac looked down at the face that was nuzzling on the crook of his neck and smiled. They first started the night sleeping on their own side of the bed leaving a gap between them, however Vanessa fidgeted her way whilst sleeping, to her favorite place in his body and he gladly accepted. He looked over to the clock beside him on the night stand. It blinked: _2:01_. He sighed. He couldn't sleep and it was because of the girl nuzzling her face deeper and deeper on his neck. He could feel her hot breath breathed out of her mouth and hear her quiet snoring. His mind flashed images of her during their intimate moments together and he shook his head. He closed his eyes and took deep breaths trying hard not to move so he doesn't wake her up. Vanessa moved slightly and subconsciously moved her down to his chest and snuggled closer to him, if that were any possible.

Vanessa although asleep could hear his heart thumping fast and loud and it woke her up. She opened her eyes to see Zac wide awake looking at the ceiling and noticed the position they were in. "Zac?" she said tiredly unwrapping her body from his. Zac turned his head to her with an apologetic face.

"Ness" he apologized turning his body to her. "Sorry, I woke you up" She smiled with a sigh.

"It's okay" she said rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Suddenly her stomach churned and she put her hand over her mouth and got up quickly from her place to run to the bathroom. She darted to the toilet and got on her knees and threw up. Zac worriedly rushed to the bathroom and saw her kneeling in front of the toilet. He kneeled down next to her and grabbed her hair whilst she was vomiting. Vanessa finished and quickly wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "Gross" she mumbled. Zac chuckled quietly.

"You okay?" he asked helping her get up from the floor. She nodded.

"Yeah" walking to the sink and washing her face and hands. "It's been happening quite often" she explained drying her hands on the toilet resting on top of the sink. "This is what they call 'morning sickness'" she said with a laugh and he smiled. "Although, I don't think they named it correctly 'cause it happens anytime" she said covering her mouth once again and took two strides to the toilet and opened her mouth. Zac cringed.

* * *

><p>It was around noon time that they woke up again. After Vanessa's vomiting marathon, they decided to go back to sleep. They started getting ready for the day. Zac took a quick shower and as he got out of the bathroom with only a towel covering his waist down, he walked in on Vanessa wearing nothing but fitting black yoga pants that defined her bottom and a nude bra. She quickly turned her head to Zac and covered her front with the tank top she was holding on to.<p>

"Sorry!" he exclaimed turning away from the view with slight disappointment. Vanessa smiled slightly and put on the tank top.

"It's okay, Zac" she said grabbing a blue sweater from her luggage bag and putting it on. "You can turn around". He slowly turned around to her direction and Vanessa had to hold in a gasp. It has only been a little more than 4 weeks since she last saw him without clothes, but that whole night seemed like a blur to her. His whole body was more defined and as if the light shining from the outside was making his tan skin more golden. Zac looked at her curiously and Vanessa shook her stare away from his body and bent down to grab her UGG slippers from her bag. Zac swore she was checking him out and smirked. _Still got it._

After getting dressed, they both went down to the main lobby and went outside the parking lot to find the silver Alero. They drove around for a few minutes, enjoying the familiar scenery until Vanessa spoke up.

"Zac, I'm really hungry" she said rubbing her stomach. Zac pulled over to a Cheesecake Factory that was on the side of the road and chuckled as Vanessa's eyes brightened up with delight. They got out of the car and Zac held the door open for Vanessa. She smiled and shook her head slightly.

"Suck up" she teased. He winked back at her. A young blonde woman at the concierge table at the waiting table saw them enter and greeted them.

"For how many?" she asked.

"Just two" Vanessa answered with a smile. The blonde woman took two menus off the front table where she was sitting at and lead them to a booth in the back. She placed the two menus in each side of the table facing one another.

"There you go" she said with a smile and walked away leaving Zac and Vanessa to sit down at the table. Vanessa opened the menu eagerly. She hasn't eaten since they stopped by a Mexican restaurant the night before where the cast use to go to when they were filming _High School Musical_, the Red Iguana, to get take out. She nearly devoured her Poblano Plate, which consisted of a chicken enchilada and a tostada with guacamole and more than half of the nachos they shared together as Zac sat back and watched amusingly, eating his Steak a la Ranchera.

"What to pick, what to pick" she mumbled to herself. Zac looked up from his menu and smiled at Vanessa who was still looking down at the menu, biting her bottom lip. A young man who looked around to be in his early 20s, not much younger than they are with brown shaggy hair wearing a white button down shirt, black slacks and a black apron covering his waist walked to their table.

"Hey guys my name is Tony and I'll be your server for today, would you guys like to start off with drinks?" he said smiling down at them.

"Yeah, I'll have a Nutty Chocolate Marshmallow Shake" Vanessa said grinning. Zac laughed and Vanessa poked her tongue out at him.

"I'll just have a root beer, thanks man" he said coolly. Tony nodded his head as he wrote down their drink orders on his notepad.

"Sure thing guys, that'll be out in a few moments" he said smiling and walked away.

"So I think I'm gonna have to get used to this" Zac said smiling. Vanessa closed her menu and looked at him with questioning look. "The insane amount of food you've been consuming!" he laughed. She smiled back.

"Hey!" she protested. "I'm eating for two now, it's your job as daddy to feed us" she said lightheartedly subconsciously placing her hand on her stomach. Zac's body jerked as he heard the word 'daddy' come out Vanessa's mouth. There was something inside Zac that made his heart beat faster and insides to flutter. He decided that he liked it.

Tony came back with their drinks in his hand. He placed a glass of root beer in front of Zac and the chocolate milkshake topped with toasted marshmallows and crumbs of almonds in front of Vanessa and clapped quietly in glee. She took a sip of the milkshake and took one of the small toasted marshmallows and ate it happily.

"You guys ready to order?" Vanessa nodded readily.

"Yeah, we'll start off with an order of the Tex-Mex eggrolls and Sweet Corn Tamales Cakes…" she trailed on. "Wait…how many of the tamales cakes are there?" cocking her head towards Tony.

"There's 3 in an order" Tony answered.

"Then make it two orders of those" she said and heard Zac snicker. "And I'll have the Four Cheese Pasta and The Original Cheesecake but we can save that for dessert" she said contentedly handing the menu to Tony.

"And you, sir?" Tony asked to Zac.

"I'll have the Monterrey Cheeseburger and a Wild Blueberry White Chocolate Cheesecake" Zac said handing his own menu to Tony.

"And how would you like that done?" Tony asked writing on his notepad.

"Medium rare" Zac replied seeing Vanessa scrunch up her nose in disgust and laughed at her reaction. She was never a fan of seeing the blood still on her meat.

"Alright guys, that'll be up soon"

"Thanks" "Thanks, man" they replied in unison. Vanessa's phone chimed alerting her that she has a new text message. She saw that it was from her sister, Stella. _Wanna hang 2day?_ She bit her lip and glanced at Zac who was looking around the restaurant. She typed back her reply. _Sorry stell. Busy 2day._ She sighed. She didn't even tell her own sister, one of her best friends where she was. But her pregnancy was a secret she wants to be kept hidden for a while, until her and Zac are ready.

Zac heard Vanessa sigh and looked at her. She was sipping her milkshake quietly and chewing on the straw. A habit Zac noticed she does when she's nervous about something. "Ness" he said shaking her away from her thoughts.

"Hmm" she said.

"You okay?" he asked worriedly. She nodded her head slightly and continued to sip on her milkshake. "You're chewing on your straw" he stated. Vanessa stopped and noticed that the tip of her straw has been squished. "You chew on your straw when you're nervous, what's wrong?" he asked. She sighed. _Damn him and his ability to know me so well._

"It's just—" She was stopped by the chiming of her phone again. She looked at the screen and saw a reply from Stella. _Damn im bored…tmmrw?_ "This. This is the problem" she said handing her phone to Zac for him to read.

He realized why she was so upset. She couldn't tell her family what's going on. It's been bothering him too. He checked his phone this morning and had 2 missed calls from his mom since he promised to call her once he got home but forgot to after Vanessa called him to come over. He replied back before they drove to Salt Lake with a simple text: _Got home safe, love you_.

"Ness, I know" he said giving back the phone to her. Vanessa looked at him. "If you want, we can go back home now and tell them if it's bothering you" he said.

"And you would drive 12 hours back, not even spending 12 hours here?" she asked him. He shrugged.

"I'd do it for you" he said simply. She shook her head.

"No. I wouldn't even know what to say to them" she said looking down at the empty plate in front of her. Zac got up from his seat and went to the other side of table. He took Vanessa and gave her a comforting hug.

"Ness, we'll figure this out" he said. She nodded. "Together"

"I know" she mumbled. He rubbed her back. They pulled away from their hug and Vanessa picked up her phone from the table to text back a reply. _Busy all week meetings & stuff, sorry! Next week promise!_ She leaned her head back on Zac's shoulder and Zac smiles.

Soon enough, Tony comes back with a plate filled with pasta and another with a towering burger with fries on the side. Zac saw Vanessa's eyes perk up as she saw the sight of their order coming. Tony sets the pasta plate in front of her. "Four Cheese Pasta for the lady" he smiles. "And Monterrey Cheeseburger for you sir" as he sets the plate down in front of Zac. Zac and Vanessa smiled at them and gave him their thanks. Vanessa digs her fork down on her pasta and moans in delight. Zac was about to take a bite out of his burger until he heard that delightful sound that made his insides tingle and glanced at Vanessa who had her eyes closed.

Zac Efron was raised to be a respectful man, especially to women. He made no efforts to be a 'player', and could count the number of women he's slept with in his 24 years of life in one hand. But, seeing that the woman eating her pasta next to him was his first love that he's shared the most intimate experiences with for 5 years was moaning in pleasure, he couldn't help but feel slightly aroused. He cleared his throat and tried to shake the thought out of his head.

After finishing their lunch, which Vanessa took down in less than 8 minutes, Zac counted, Tony came back with two plates of each their cheesecake. "Here you go guys" he said placing the two plates on the table. "And here's your check!" placing the checkbook in front of them. Vanessa took her wallet from her purse and took out her card to pay for the lunch. But when she was about to place her card on the checkbook she saw Zac's card already there. She turned to Zac, who was eating his cheesecake with content.

"This is really good" he said taking another bite. "Want some?" he asked pointing to the cake in front of him. Vanessa gaped her mouth.

"Zac" she scolded taking his card out of the checkbook and placing hers in it instead. Zac looked at her indecorously and took hold of her wrist that was putting her card inside the checkbook.

"Ness" he said firmly. "It's fine. I'll pay" he said losing his grip on her wrist and taking his card and putting it on top of hers. She gave him a pointed look and he looked right back. His hand was still loosely gripping her wrist. Their faces were close enough to hear each other's breathing. They held their stare for a few minutes, until Zac forgot why they were in the position in the first place and started to lean in and Vanessa held her breath.

"Are you guys done?" Tony asked making Zac and Vanessa jerk away from each other. Vanessa looked down at her untouched cheesecake and the almost melted whipped cream on top of it.

"Umm…I'll just take this home" she said pointing to her plate. "I'm not so hungry anymore" she said quietly. Zac cleared his throat and grabbed the checkbook and put his card on it and gave it to Tony. Tony grabbed Vanessa's plate and the checkbook from Zac's hands. Vanessa sighed and grabbed her card and put it back on her wallet. There was an awkward silence. Zac continued to silently eat his cheesecake.

"You sure you don't want some?" Zac asked gently pushing his plate in front of her. Vanessa bit her bottom lip and thought about it. She was still hungry and picked up the fork next to her and took a big piece off the cheesecake. He chuckled silently.

"Oh my god, that's heaven" Vanessa said letting the cheesecake melt in her mouth. She took another piece and shoved it on her mouth but looked at Zac who was watching her in enjoyment. "Sowy" she said with her mouth full. He laughed.

"It's fine, it's yours if you want" he said putting his napkin that was resting on his lap on top the table. Vanessa finished the rest of the cheesecake. They walked out of the restaurant and got into the car once again and drove away.

* * *

><p>Zac drove past a familiar building as he heard Vanessa gasp. "It hasn't changed" Vanessa said quietly looking past the building with the banner on top of the main entrance titled: EAST HIGH SCHOOL, WHERE AMAZING THINGS HAPPEN! Vanessa let out a laugh. She turned to Zac, "You think we can go in?" she asked mischievously. He laughed driving to the back of the building and parking.<p>

They ran out of the car excitedly and surprisingly found an unlocked back door that leads them to the cafeteria. The whole building was empty, seeing that school ended a couple of weeks ago and it was already summer. They ran to the hallway and went down a staircase that leads them on the upper level of the humongous red and white cafeteria that every _High School Musical_ fan should be familiar with. Vanessa and Zac smiled wide as they leaned against the rail that looked over the entire room. "I want it, I, I, I want, want it" Vanessa sang her best friend's song from the third movie. Zac laughed.

"This is not what I want, this is not how I planned, and I just gotta say I do not understand" he sang along to another Sharpay song that took place where they were standing. "Something is really" they sang together.

"Something's not right" Zac sang, "Really wrong, and we gotta get things back to where they belong!" after this they laughed hysterically as Vanessa who was grabbing on the railing leaned back on Zac's chest and he wrapped his arms around her shoulder.

"Brings back memories doesn't it?" Zac asked. She felt him nod under his chin. They heard the door open on the lower floor and saw a janitor pushing a garbage can enter the cafeteria.

The janitor spotted them and yelled out, "CAN YOU TWO BE HERE?"

Zac and Vanessa looked at each other and Zac said, "Uhh…NO NOT REALLY…BUT WE'LL HEAD OUT!" They started to walk down the stairs and the janitor walked over to them and his eyes widened.

"Oh hey! You two were from High School Musical!" he pointing to them. Zac and Vanessa smiled softly at the man.

"Uh, yeah we were in the area and just wanted to stop by" Vanessa explained.

"Oh hey, no problem" the man said. "I remember when you guys were filming here" he said smiling. "You two still together?" he asked looking at the two of them. Zac and Vanessa glanced at each other. Vanessa opened her mouth to say something but closed it right back.

"We're…uhh…we're…" Zac stammered and looked at Vanessa who was staying quiet looking at the ground. The janitor sensed the awkwardness and smiled gently at the two.

"Oh well…I'm just gonna head out" he said pointing to the door. "Lots more rooms to clean" he said laughing. Vanessa and Zac smiled at the man and waved goodbye.

"We should uh…probably go" Zac said trying to break the silence between them. Vanessa nodded and they walk out of the building and went to their car again. Zac drove back to the main road, "Where do you wanna go now?" he asked. Vanessa was looking out the window and shrugged. Zac sighed quietly. "Ness….he was onto something you know" he trailed on. Vanessa stayed quiet and continued to look on the window. "Vanessa" he said gently but firmly. Vanessa winced, he used her full name. "What are we?" he asked putting emphasis on the 'we'. Vanessa stayed quiet, she doesn't know herself what they are. "Don't shut me out now" Zac begged. "Not now." He heard her sniff and he pulled over up a hill they were driving along. He got out of the car and walked to the other side and opened the passenger car door. Vanessa stopped leaning against the door for Zac to open it and she got out of the car. He pulled her on a hug and Vanessa buried her face on his chest crying.

"I hate this" she sobbed. Zac rested his cheek on top of her head and rubbed her back in comfort. "I'm not this usually this emotional!" she cried out. Zac smiled slightly. Vanessa pulled away from her and wiped her tears from her face. She saw a nearby bench and walked over to and Zac followed her. They sat down and realized they had the view of the entire Salt Lake.

"It kinda puts our situation in perspective huh?" Zac said pointing down at the city. Vanessa nodded. "It's too beautiful of a world to see it alone, Ness" he said quietly glancing at her. Vanessa bit her lip.

"Zac, you know I love you" she said trying to keep her tears in.

"But…" Zac started knowing she was going to say it. Vanessa breathed deeply.

"What if doesn't work?" she asked quietly. Zac turned his head to her. "What if we try it and we have the baby and it doesn't work?" she said looking straight at him. "He's gonna have to go from one life to having two different lives because we got selfish and we didn't think about him" she explained. "This isn't just about the two of us anymore, Zac. We're having a baby." Vanessa said taking hold of his hand.

"Ness, if you're scared that I'm choosing you over family, you are my family now." He said putting his hand on her stomach. "You and this baby are my life. We'll make it work" Zac said. Vanessa's eyes soon filled with tears. "For us and for our baby" he said putting his other hand on her cheek.

* * *

><p>Zac gently pushed Vanessa on the wall of their room as his lips trailed down her neck. Vanessa closed her eyes and pushed her chest out to Zac. Zac's hands were moving along her waist and Vanessa's hand grabs his hair and lets out a moan. They didn't know how they got here. One minute, they were in the park bench and the next their lips were locked onto one another hoping they won't ever have to break apart. Zac speeded down the road as fast as he could with Vanessa breathing heavily on the passenger seat. They got to the hotel and nearly ran to the elevator and fortunately found it empty as they continued to lock their lips together in a frenzy fashion.<p>

Hours and 3 rounds later, Zac who was panting heavily laying on top of Vanessa who still had her eyes closed and trying to get hear breathing under control, rolled over to the side. He covered both of them in the white sheet that was kicked on the ground in the middle of their rather animalistic activity and soon the two fell asleep with one dreaming about the future and the other stuck in the past.

* * *

><p>Vanessa had trouble sleeping and looked over to the man that had his arm around her. It was a usual position that she would wake up to whenever they slept in the same bed. She carefully unwrapped his arm off of her and slowly got up trying not to wake him up. She put on her bathrobe that was on top of her luggage bag and checked her phone. <em>3 missed calls<em>.

"Shit" she said under her breath. Two was from her mom and one was from Ashley. She sighed. She couldn't talk to her mom yet, and decided to call Ashley first. She walked to the balcony so she wouldn't wake Zac from his sleep and closed the sliding door behind her.

"Ness?" a voice on the other end on the phone spoke up. Vanessa took a deep breath.

"Hey Ash" she said quietly looking at the view in front of her fidgeting with her bathrobe tie.

"Hey, where have you been? Stell & your mom have called me asking me if I know where you are and I stopped by your house and your car was there, but your doors were locked" Ashley explained. Vanessa stayed quiet. "Are you okay? Where are you?" she asked worriedly.

"I'm fine. I just went out of town for a while…" she said simply.

"Ness is something wrong? You ran out of my house the other day completely in shock and you haven't called me at all…" Ashley said with concern. Vanessa paced around the balcony and saw that Zac started to wake up and rub his eyes. "Ness?"

"Yeah, Ash I have to go. Look, I'm fine; tell my parents I'm fine. Don't worry about anything, I'll be home in a couple of days, I promise." She said reassuring her best friend hurriedly as her eyes connected with Zac through the glass, who was looking at her with worry.

"Ness—"Ashley said trying to stop her from hanging up but was too late and heard a busy tone signaling that Vanessa has hung up on her. Vanessa sighed and slid the glass door open and entered the hotel room walking past the bed, trying not to make eye contact with Zac who was observing her, and walked towards her bag and pulled out clothes.

"Who was that?" Zac asked. Vanessa walked to the foot of the bed and laid her clothes on her side.

"Ashley" she responded quietly looking at her clothes that was laid out in front of her.

"Oh" he said. "You told her you were with me?" he asked curiously. She shook her head still looking at her clothes.

"I just told her I was out of town and she shouldn't worry" Vanessa said finally raising her head to look at him. Zac looked at her with an unrecognizable face. "What?" she asked him.

"Do you regret what happened?" he questioning her.

"No" she said with no hesitation.

"Then why are you treating me like this?" he asked exasperatedly. Vanessa walked over to her side of the bed and sat beside him. Zac sighed, closing his eyes in frustration. "Ness, I'm trying here. But you keep pushing back" he said looking at her. Vanessa looked at him and placed her lips against him. Zac was shocked but kissed right back. After a few seconds of this, they pulled back and Vanessa rested her forehead against his as Zac touched her hair.

"I'm sorry" Vanessa apologized. "I can't handle the thought of losing you again" she said putting a hand on the nape of his neck and letting her fingers play with his hair.

"How many times do I have to say that I'm not going anywhere?" Zac promised placing his hand on her waist. Vanessa nodded and smiled softly at him. Zac leaned in for a kiss and they fell back into bed together.

* * *

><p>Think it's happy ever after for these two? Think again! I have a lot in mind for the upcoming chapters! ;) As Shakespeare once said, "The course of true love never did run smooth".<p>

KTZLF!

& DON'T FORGET THE LUCKY ONE PREMIERES NEXT FRIDAY! GO ZEFRON!


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